Star Anise Restaurant 聚湘園酒樓

REVIST POST ON STAR ANISE FOR DINNER [HERE]

BF and I came here for dim sum in April. We have always wanted to try Star Anise ever since the restaurant replaced Samosa Garden. The interior of the restaurant is newly renovated and the menu looks pretty with big colored photographs.

LEAN PORK CONGEE WITH PRESERVED EGG, HERBAL SOUP, STEAMED SPARERIBS WITH SQUASH, STEAMED CHICKEN CLAWS WITH BLACK BEAN SAUCE, STEAMED LYCHEE CHICKEN WITH LOTUS LEAF WRAP, BAKED SCALLOP AND MASHED TARO PASTRY. DEEP FRIED SESAME BALLS AND MANGO PUDDING.

SMALL $3.95 MEDIUM $4.20 LARGE $4.60 SPECIAL $6.95 KITCHEN $7.75

LEAN PORK CONGEE WITH PRESERVED EGG ($5.98). The lean pork congee with preserved egg tastes bland, but not the healthier home cooked delicious taste kind of bland. The congee has a few pieces of diced preserved eggs which I prefer over slices and the pork is minced, slices would have tasted better. Despite the preserved egg and minced pork, the congee does not have much taste.

BRAISED CHICKEN WITH AMERICAN GINSENG HERBAL SOUP ($7.95/bowl). BF and I were excited to see herbal soup on the menu but unfortunately the soup tastes like hot water, literally. The owner came by to ask how the soup was and we told her the truth, which people should (in a nice way of course) so restaurants can find ways to improve. The soup is served in a nice ceramic dish but is pricy, $8.00 for two cups of hot water and bits of green onions floating around (technically $16.00 for the both of us).

STEAMED SPARERIBS WITH SQUASH ($4.20). The steamed spareribs do not taste overly chewy, dry or salty but the sauce lacks flavour. The spareribs taste bland and has a scoops of packaged minced garlic. Despite the spareribs tasting bland, they taste better than the congee and "ginseng soup".

STEAMED CHICKEN FEET WITH BLACK BEAN SAUCE ($4.20). The black bean sauce has no taste or flavour and tastes quite bland. The chicken feet tastes very dry although there is a decent amount of sauce. The presentation for the chicken feet is pretty much the same as the spareribs, topped with diced red and green peppers as well as black beans.

LYCHEE CHICKEN IN LOTUS LEAF WRAP ($4.60). After my disappointment with the chicken feet (and the rest of the dishes), I was excited to try the lychee chicken, save the best for last right?! I love lychee so was quite interested in the lotus leaf wrap, however, it ended up tasting the worst. The chicken tastes bland with no lychee taste and tastes very chewy as well as tough. The chicken resembles the taste of eating day old reboiled overcooked chicken, not pleasant. The photo is as is, untouched and is exactly what it looks like once the lotus leaf wrap is opened.

BAKED SCALLOP AND MASHED TARO PASTRY ($4.60). I told BF not to order this when we saw the waitress walking around with them, but he did. The pastry is flaky but has no taste? The dish seems to be a pastry shell with pastry flakes all over and the middle has a tiny bit of barely there soft mashed texture which has also no taste (presumably the taro). The presentation is not too shabby though and the colors are pretty.



DEEP FRIED SESAME BALLS ($4.20). The sesame balls have a nice crisp exterior and a soft chewy texture. The black sesame sauce is very watery, more watery than gooey but at least it is not dry. Have you ever had rock hard dried up black sesame? Not very good. The waitress was hesitant on cutting the sesame balls since the black sesame oozes out, but I knew I wanted one cut for a photo. The best part of dim sum would be the sesame balls because they taste average.


MANGO PUDDING ($4.20). The mango pudding looks cute right? Yeah, we did not finish it.. not because it looks cute, but because it did not taste good. Right when I saw the texture I thought, "crap." BF said, "oh cute, you like hello kitty," yeah.. well.. I prefer a yummy mango pudding over cuteness. The mango pudding tastes bland and the texture literally tastes like if you took a perfect mango pudding (minus the perfect taste), squished and compressed the pudding with a spoon, and mashed the pudding into a hello kitty mould. I only ordered the mango pudding because on the menu, the photo was the typical round mango pudding shape with a heart stamped inside (which it did not end up being). Usually those types of mango pudding taste the same and quite good.

POSITIVES
- Newly renovated restaurant

NEGATIVES
- Dim sum tastes below average
- No customer should ever feel obligated to enjoy at least one dish
- Herbal soup for $8.00/bowl? What a joke

LITTLE THINGS
- I would come back for dinner (the photos look good on the menu)

Food: 2/5
Service: 2.5/5